Lent or no Lent, not doing some things you feel like doing is the daily pattern for the disciples of Jesus. Yes, daily. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

In the resurrection there will be no self-denial because none of our desires will be sinful or foolish. Till then we have sinful and foolish desires daily. Hence, “Let him deny himself and take up his cross daily.”

What Paul Says

This is so essential in Christian living that Paul made it part of his one-time sermon to Felix (“he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment,” Acts 24:25); he made it part of the fruit of the Spirit (“fait…

Continue Reading →

Of course, the courage of Bonhoeffer to defy the compromising state church of Germany in the early days of Nazism is inspiring. A church that did not stand with the Jews,  he said, was not the church of Jesus Christ. So at great risk he came out.

Wolfhart Pannenberg, 84, is the retired professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Munich where he served since 1968. He was very much the rage when I was in seminary, and I was honored to sit in some of his lectures while I was a student in Munich.

The connection I am drawing between Bonhoeffer and Pannenberg is their strong statements about what constitutes the un-churching of a church. For Bonhoeffer it was the failure to stand wit…

Continue Reading →

I have a new acronym.

Along with I.O.U.S. and A.P.T.A.T. and A.N.T.H.E.M. I now use A.I.M.S. to help me maintain my Christ-consciousness through the day.

Two times in his second letter Peter said he meant to stir us up “by way of reminder” (2 Peter 1:13; 3:1). This is what I need all day long. Reminders of massive truth.

If my mind is empty or worldly, my faith languishes. My joy in Christ weakens. I need truth. “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

My mind needs glory: “Set your minds on things that are above” (Colossians 3:2). I need to think on excellent praiseworthy reality:. “If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, t…

Continue Reading →

We know that before Paul was born God had set him apart for his apostleship.

He who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles. (Galatians 1:15–16).

And we know that Paul became a Christian-hating (Acts 9:1), Christ-persecuting (Acts 9:5), zealot (Philippians 3:6; Galatians 1:14) before  he was converted. Forever after he would call himself “the chief of sinners” because of these wicked days (1 Timothy 1:15; 1 Corinthians 15:9).

We also know that God broke into Paul’s life dramatically and decisively to bring him to faith (Acts 9:3–19). Which means that he could have pl…

Continue Reading →

If you are old and fear that Christ will not accept you for having sinned away the better part of your life, let Jonathan Edwards compel you. This is from a sermon titled “No Obstacle to the Pardon of the Returning Sinner,” based on Psalm 25:11, “For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.”

I am afraid God will not accept of me, when I offer him only mine old age.

To this I would answer

Hath God said anywhere, that he will not accept old sinners who come to him? God hath often made offers and promises in universal terms; and is there any such exception put in?

Doth Christ say, All that thirst, let them come to me and drink, except old sinners? Come to me, all ye th…

Continue Reading →

In this two-minute video that Talitha and I made at home, I give a snapshot of how the Lord teaches me deep things through my little grandchildren. The lesson is simple. But the summons is for a miracle to happen deep in my life — again and again.

________

Recent posts from John Piper —

• Five Reasons I Believe Romans 11:26 Means a Future Conversion for Israel
• Pray and Ponder Yourself into Sync with Paul's Sense of Wealth
• Read Your Bible More and More

Romans 11:26 says, “And in this way all Israel will be saved.” I take this to mean that someday the nation as a whole (not necessarily every individual; see 1 Kings 12:1; 2 Chronicles 12:1) will be converted to Christ and join the Christian church and be saved.

This was J. C. Ryle’s view published in 1867:

[The Jews] are kept separate that they may finally be saved, converted and restored to their own land. They are reserved and preserved, in order that God may show in them as on a platform, to angels and men, how greatly he hates sin, and yet how greatly he can forgive, and how greatly he can convert. Never will that be realized as it will in that day when “all Israel shall be sa…

Continue Reading →

Update 4/24: My Future at Desiring God

Increasingly, our vision for Desiring God is global. The Internet is our main way of spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. And the Internet is global. We are continually amazed who is downloading articles and messages.

Jesus has global goals for his church. He has all authority in heaven and on earth. No inch of the planet is not his! And he promises that his gospel will reach all the people groups of the world as a testimony (Matthew 24:14). And he commands that we teach everything he has commanded to all these groups (Matthew 28:20). So we see our Internet presence as bearin…

Continue Reading →

When the apostle Paul thinks about “wealth” or “riches” what springs to his mind? What should spring to ours? Where should our efforts at enrichment be invested?

Here are all the uses of Paul’s favorite word for “riches” (ploutos). Taste and see what he lives for.

• The riches of God’s kindness and forbearance and patience. (Romans 2:4)
• The riches of God’s glory for vessels of mercy. (Romans 9:23)
• The riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! (Romans 11:33)
• A wealth of generosity on their part. (2 Corinthians 8:2)
• The riches of God’s grace. (Ephesians 1:7)
• The riches of God’s glorious inheritance in the saints. (Ephesians 1:18)
• The immeasurable riches of God’s grace in kindness toward us…

Continue Reading →

Don’t rest on past reading. Read your Bible more and more every year. Read it whether you feel like reading it or not. And pray without ceasing that the joy return and pleasures increase.

Three reasons this is not legalism:

1. You are confessing your lack of desire as sin, and pleading as a helpless child for the desire you long to have. Legalists don’t cry like that. They strut.
2. You are reading out of desperation for the effects of this heavenly medicine. Bible-reading is not a cure for a bad conscience; it’s chemo for your cancer. Legalists feel better because the box is checked. Saints feel better when their blindness lifts, and they see Jesus in the word. Let’s get real. We are despera…

Continue Reading →